Walk to School Week was great - now let's try and walk EVERY week!

Walk to School Week 2020 was great - children at both sites made a really great effort to walk, scoot, cycle and 'park and stride' to school during Walk to School Week and hopefully will continue to use active travel to and from school for the rest of the year. 

Here are just a few photos that represent our Walk to School Week, from signatures and stickers, to badges and banners. Well done to Pear, Walnut and Aspen classes for the photos.

Yr 4 reading with Reception pupils

Sharing a story

Last week, Poplar class and Ash class (Yr4) went to High Street for a lovely afternoon of story sharing with Orange Tree and Pear Tree class (Reception). The children were paired up and sat happily together around the classroom to read to each other and to talk about their favourite books.

In class, the Year 4 pupils have been learning to retell traditional and fairy stories and they did a fantastic job of retelling tales such as Snow White, The Gingerbread Man and Cinderella to the younger pupils.

The teachers were particularly impressed by the way the older children took on their roles and worked with the Reception children. They demonstrated a kind and caring nature and were positive role models for our younger pupils. Well Done Year 4!

Reception - Pear Tree's Butterfly Bonanza

We've had some exciting news in Pear Tree this week; our butterflies have finally emerged from their chrysalises! We were thrilled to see them unfolding their wings and exploring their environment. 

Once they've had a chance to eat and fly a little, we will release them into the wild to explore the forest school and beyond...

Reception - Pear Tree's Roarsome dinosaurs!

This week in Pear Tree we have been learning about shapes and constructing using mathematical materials. 

We begun by looking at the various 2D and 3D shapes that we knew, building enclosures and pathways for our own dinosaur villages. 

We then progressed to looking at Cuisenaire rods, identifying the value of each coloured piece before creating our own dinosaurs out of them. 

Take a look at our ROARsome work below...

Reception (Pear Tree) - problem solving

We had a problem this week in Pear Tree. We were given the Code-a-Pillars but we weren't allowed to touch the carpet spaces when getting them!

We all stood around the edge of the carpet trying to reach, but it was no use! We searched the classroom for things to help us until we came across long tubes. Several of us selected them and tried to sweep the pieces up by ourselves, whilst others opted to team up and push them towards each other. 

Check out our teamwork below...

Reception - Fill 'em up Pear Tree!

This week in Reception we have been thinking about capacity, the amount that something can contain.

We looked at representing empty, half full and full by filling pots with pasta, before exploring different sized containers and thinking about which ones had the greatest capacity.

See what we did below...

Reception - Pear Tree reach new heights!

In P.E. this week, we have been doing gymnastics, in particular we have been working with the high bars and focusing on our balance and traveling skills. 

We thought about being safe whilst off the ground and were able to hold on tight to the bars as we traversed the apparatus. 

Check out our skills below!

Reception - Pear Tree tell the time.

This week in Maths we have been looking at, among other things, time. We started by thinking about the different things that we do throughout the day and at what times we did them, before looking at the features of a clock. 

We then looked at o'clock times, where the minute and hour hands go. We even made our own times! Take a look at our awesome achievements below...

Reception - Pear Tree goes Magnet Mad!

Today in Pear Tree Class we looked at magnets. We had the opportunity to look at a range of different types and were incredibly excited to see what they could do. We tried a range of different classroom items, before working out that some things just weren't attracted to magnets!

Take a look at some of the things we discovered were magnetic below!

Reception - High or Low?

Reception Music Lessons

Children in Reception have been looking at how music is written out. They have learnt how to read rhythms, and now are starting to explore musical pitch.

We are using Boomwhackers and bells to explore high sounds and low sounds, and looking at how written music shows high and low!

Do you think the big red Boomwhackers would make a higher or lower sounds than the small purple ones?

When music is written down, we use 5 lines called a stave. It is like a ladder. The higher up the ladder the notes, the higher the pitch. 

We also play a warm up game called the 'Elevator Song'.

Reception - Pear Tree's most wanted!

This week in Pear Tree class we have been learning about our new book, Jack and the Beanstalk. We began by reading it, before we identified the main characters in the book. 

Next, we thought carefully about Jack, his mother and the giant. We read different describing words and decided which ones best described which character. There were some disagreements, however those that thought differently were able to explain why they thought the way that they did. 

Finally, we created our own wanted posters, where we drew pictures of the giant and wrote a mixture of words and sentences to describe what he looked, sounded and even smelt like!

Reception - See how Pear Tree measures up.

This week in Reception Pear Tree class we have been looking at measuring. We began by thinking about the difference between length and height before comparing and ordering ourselves in height order. 

After that we looked at some of the characters from The Gruffalo and measured them using cubes. 

We then went around the classroom and found anything and everything to measure, from boxes to books!

Reception - Pear Tree's Take Away Team!

This week in Pear Tree class we have been thinking all about subtraction. We used a range of resources, such as cubes and number lines, to solve our problems, thinking carefully about the steps needed to find each answer. Afterwards, we made our own number sentences and solved them independently! Take a look at some of our work below...

Reception - Pear Tree Finds Fiery Friends.

On Tuesday 5th December, all of the Reception classes visited Plumstead Fire Station. We wore our hi-visibility jackets (safety first!) and paired up before walking to the station. 

When we arrived we were greeted by some of the station's firefighters. We listened carefully to some instructions before taking a look around each of their two huge fire engines! We looked at the hoses and other equipment before sitting in one of the vehicle!

Afterwards, we watched two fire fighters whizz down the fire pole, just like they would in a real emergency! We even got to watch one of them put on all of their uniform!

Take a look at our amazing time below...